The four leggeds came before the two leggeds. They are our older brother, we came from them. Before them, we were the root people. We came from them. We are the same thing. That is why we are spiritually related to them. We call them in our language ‘Tatanka,’ which means ‘He Who Owns Us.’ We cannot say that we own the buffalo because he owns us.” -Lakota elder, Birgil Kills Straight

Tatanka is the Lakota word for “buffalo,” or the American bison, which serves as a central part of the religious and cultural practices of the Great Plains Native Americans as well as many of their origin stories. In 2016, President Obama signed the National Bison Legacy Act, designating the bison as the national mammal and an iconic symbol of the United States beside the bald eagle. One month prior to the signing, the Standing Rock Dakota Access Pipeline protest began, raising the global visibility of the clash between Native tribalism and Western capitalism.

Native Americans and the American buffalo continue to share historical parallels and paradoxes, where they are simultaneously nearly exterminated by Western expansion while being culturally appropriated into American symbolism and mythmaking. In the late 19th century, Native Americans were herded into reservations at the same time that the U.S. military and European settlers launched an extermination campaign on the bison, reducing their numbers from 50 million to a small herd of less than 500 that found refuge in what is now Yellowstone National Park.

Throughout his career as a professional artist, Wayne has continually and fearlessly explored the properties of materials and the intersection, often intervention, of his art with spatial elements. His passion for artmaking is evident in works which manifest from his ample technical prowess and research. In this exhibition, phICA presents a new body work which is stripped of symbolism, narrative, and socio-political agendas. As Hulgin states, “My work is not about anything other than what’s right before your eyes.”

That being said, his work is strongly idea and research driven, ideas about materials, researching what has been done and what has not been attempted; collisions and couplings. Hulgin abandons limits in working with wood, paper, canvas, graphite lines, and layers of paint, often blurring hard-edged boundaries that are prevalent in much of the art being produced these days. His focus is on how the materials are “put together and how it works with the wall and how it works in the light.” Abandoning self-imposed, safe limits, Wayne is free to experiment and move forward in his professional practice as an artist. “What you see is what you get – nothing more, nothing less.”

“Liminal entities are neither here nor there; they are betwixt and between...”

– Victor Turner, AnthropologistInspired by Turner’s thoughts on ritual as pre-liminal phase (separation), liminal phase (transition), and post-liminal phase (reincorporation), curator Tippi Hart’s research focuses on the spaces of transition/creation. She is mining creative work that lies between inspiration and presentation; process not product. This two-fold exploration looks at how the choreographer lives in that liminal space and how the photographer documents this process.

How does a choreographer explore an idea that stimulates them to create and subsequently allow them to convey that creation to their performers? Audiences are often moved and inspired by a performance that may last two minutes or two hours, but what does it take to get there? It takes weeks, months and sometimes years of research, rehearsal, discussion, and preparation. This art exhibition visually addresses the process by which performance creators construct the exploration to and with their performers. Tippi Hart and Jenny Gerena’s photography documents the movement creations by Arizona choreographers Gerena and Jamey Garner. The photographs provide viewers with an engaging look at how all of the artists involved construct their creative journeys.Creation happens in the betwixt and between.

phICA has launched an innovative project which provides visual artists, especially those working on street art, to lean a work on board in the phICA Forum at the phICA Shipping Containers on Phoenix First and Third Fridays. With thousands of visitors walking the sidewalk on the south side of Roosevelt Street during these events, PAL offers viewers opportunities to see, engage, and enjoy the work that these featured artists have created. Often these artists are not included in more traditional gallery exhibitions.

Our premiere artist is Willy Moreno who is leaning his aerosol painting on wood of Courage, the Cowardly Dog from the 1990s cartoon series. Willy produced the work in 2016. It measures 7 feet tall and 4 feet, 5 inches wide. At its premiere showing on Phoenix February First Friday, numerous people recognized the character and were engaged with it as evidenced by them taking photos of it and posing for selfies in front of it.

Solitude is an essential part of an introvert’s well-being. Authentic interaction with individuals and small groups is also necessary and edifying. Nevertheless, I need time alone to process and recharge. Living in a big city with a demanding job and a family can make this a challenge.

This series of photographs represents my pursuit of quietude: to be still, to listen, to see, and to process. Stillness, like any discipline, is an intentional act. One must make the time for it. Sometimes it looks like quiet contemplation or meditation. Other times it looks like engaging in activities that are enriching or cathartic: reading, looking at or making art, listening to or making music, etc.

The reality of each of these scenes at the time of exposure ranged from tourist-populated, bustling beaches to abandoned shores anticipating menacing storms—great metaphors for busy city life. I use my camera to create quiet space, renovating each scene into a personal sanctuary.

Long exposure times ranging between thirty seconds to over five minutes allow the camera to consolidate several moments into one image, registering any movement as indistinct blurs of reflected light, or not recording it at all. The process itself forces me to be patient and still. The result is a tranquil stillness, a silence that breeds introspection and peace rather than loneliness.

Abstraction in the Singular is a survey of painters from the West Coast and Arizona that have had an impact on how we think about the genre of abstract art. Running counter to the New York aesthetic of what Jerry Saltz recently termed “Zombie Formalism,” we can say there is no way to lump the divergent practices of the painters that are included in Abstraction in the Singular into a particular school, trend, or ethos. By using the gestural and the geometric, the atmospheric and the iconic, the theoretical and the pleasurable in any number of hybrid ways, the artists in this survey challenge how we think about non-objective imagery as an integral set of pictorial relations. In other words, the painters included in this show ask us to engage with how the indexical quality of abstract art is intimately tied to a language of touch, tempo and transposition. Such singular qualities characterize the very best of what abstract painting has to offer us today by building on the achievements of a genre that has kept art goers captivated for well over a century. - Dr. Grant Vetter, Curator

So lightly here…, new works by painter Kim Sweet, are meditations on the inherent instability of the human condition.

The paintings, made of oil and wax on canvas or panel, explore the relationship between loss and change while searching for a kind of beauty that is possible in the struggle to find ones bearings. The paintings are compressed, dense, often with little or no horizon….and, as expressed by the title of one of the smaller works, are about the feeling of being “in the deep weeds.” The inability to see a clear path ahead, letting go of a known future and living in that compressed space are the foundational elements of this body of work.

Sweet says that she was interested in tapping into the notions of suffering and joy that resonated with her in the work of Robinson Jeffers and Naomi Shihab Nye. "I love that line by Robinson Jeffers,” Sweet says. "The one that goes, ‘I sadly smile, remembering that the flower fades to make fruit, the fruit rots to make the earth.’”

Retracing Audubon: Contemporary Views at Northlight Gallery features the black and white photographs of ASU alumna Krista Elrick’s decade-long project following the path of renowned artist and naturalist John James Audubon. In her travels following Audubon’s path, Elrick found rivers and wetlands scarred and shaped by humans, their waters pillaged and dominated by commerce. “From the projects’ beginning, Audubon’s biography dictated my fieldwork,” Elrick writes, “Photographing along the rivers and trails where he roamed led me through a journey into the unexpected. My reaction to the harsh differences between what he wrote and what I experienced continues to direct my creative inquiry.”

On Third Friday in February, R. Pela Contemporary Art will present Danny Neumann: The Super Neumanns, a new exhibit of work from the popular local artist. The show, at Scottsdale’s Walter Art Gallery, features Neumann’s newest series of photographs: 365 images that imagine a family of super heroes going about their daily lives. Based loosely on goings-on in Neumann’s own life, the series is striking in its scope and detail, and in its humanity and affection for mundane tasks.

“Mr. and Mrs. Super Neumann are custom-made figures crafted from vintage G.I. Joe parts,” Neumann says of the photo series. “On Day One, they move into a Fisher Price dollhouse my sister had when she was a kid. It starts simply with them doing stuff like cleaning and painting. But as the days and weeks and months roll on, the vignettes get more elaborate.”

Neumann built each custom set for each photo shoot, accumulating hundreds of tiny props and accessories. “If you view these images a day at a time, from beginning to end, I think you’ll form a connection with these characters,” says the artist, who considers himself an “Action Figure Anthropologist.”“I enjoy the process of bringing to life the ideas in my head. Because much of my art uses toys, it’s a way for me to recapture glimpses of that unique mind-space children get into when they’re playing. It’s a creative zone that seems to get lost the older we get. When kids are fully engaged, the line between reality and fiction gets blurred. Action figures essentially come to life. I get a kick out of trying to reproduce that dynamic with my photos.”

Neumann, who has been making art for seven years, has recently shown in Phoenix at Central Arts Plaza, The Newton, and Pita Jungle Roosevelt. His work has also been included in shows at the I.D.E.A. Museum, MADE, Artlink’s Juried Exhibition, and at {9} The Gallery.

In the name of the mother, daughter and the holy spirit. Abe Zucca over turns patriarchal dynamics via ovum intuitions of the spirit. One singular triptych on view to access the subconscious schematic of past-past-past lives. Re-enter the universal androgyny. HOUSE OF STAIRS PERFORMS AT 8PM TILL 11PM.

"Full Circle" is about honoring the professors that enriched my life at Arizona State University. There were more than four but these professors were my core group. These men and women go over and beyond to see students succeed and this show is a way to say "thank you". I will also be featuring sculpture by Laurent Teichman who has blessed me post-grad school.

Horizon is the line or circle that forms the apparent boundary between earth and sky. The limit or range of perception, knowledge, or the like. The foundation of my recent work body is based on a two-third rule. It applies to nearly all of the work inspired by the desert landscape from hiking in the Southwest with my beloved four legged companion, OLLIE. Dialogue is represented by the usage of abstract brush strokes, forms, and lines. Once incorporated, the works express my questions and concerns about humanity and nature. Additionally, found objects often provide the basic skeleton or blueprint for many of my works. These mysterious objects are not only the witness, but are also evidence of man and nature’s struggle over time.

Each work is a question I ask about existence, destiny, and humanity. Each question leads into another work. The road is endless for the true traveler.

Get ready for our first group show of the year, featuring over a dozen local artists and a wide variety of work inspired by Peace.

Peace is hard to find at times, but that won’t stop us from looking. Opening February 3rd at New City Studio, we present The Peace Show from 7-10pm! Peace can be a beautiful thing, but what does it look like? Over a dozen local artists dive in this month to bring us work about the elusive idea. Join us on the First Friday of February, look through the lens of solidarity, and enjoy the views

Exhibition of my recent work Friday, February 17. A show for these times, celebrating the beauty of every life that’s lived. Large intricate works from my One Lived Life series, Heaven and Earth series, and smaller works. Original music by Trevor Orriss The Studios, 215 East Grant (Grant and Third Street) in downtown Phoenix. www.idakatherinegraver.com

Attempting to breathe new life into overused modernist conventions, Travis Rice, in his MFA thesis exhibition titled, Fodderland, has created a series of hard edge compositions inspired by the sensational terra firma of the Southwest. Wandering between painting, drawing and sculpture, Rice slathers his digitally derived terrains with bold, gaudy, artificial finishes that challenge codes of taste, while at the same time defy the austere foundation of the hard edge aesthetic.

Modified Arts is proud to present the works of longtime stable artist Jonathan Howard alongside the gallery debut of Patrick Dean Hubbell. Howard's "Haunted" works take the artist's mastered cityscapes in a new direction, while Hubbell's "That Which Makes Up Space" explores the intersection of identity and nature so fundamental to the artist's practice and cultural background.

Exhibiting with Modified since 2002, Jonathan Howard has experienced a full trajectory within the gallery's walls. For his latest exhibition, building off recent group shows in Denver and Brooklyn, and responding to the increasingly paranoid US cultural moment, Howard's latest body of work takes a distinctly darker turn. While still relying on the artist's unique mix of acrylic, oil, drawing, and found objects, these works parse a psyche whose view of urban spaces has been colored by the nation's recent dark turn.

Based in Window Rock and an enrolled member of the Dine' tribe of the To'ahani' clan, Patrick Dean Hubbell's works often first appear as abstraction, but root to a great intentionality and organization. Represented by Peters Projects in Santa Fe, Hubbell has continually explored the intersection of his Native and Contemporary identities. "That Which Makes Up Space" lays a foundation of seemingly-chaotic lines and smudges and color formations, but layers them with hyper-organized design symbols, providing centers and allowing the viewer a momentary visual experience. This interlocking order and disorder for the artist "mimics what nature provides," also representing the alternately correlating and conflicting identities Hubbell inhabits as both Native and Contemporary in mindset and practice.

These duel solo exhibitions present as muted at first glance, but invite careful consideration. With this, the viewer reveals hidden worlds in each artist's work-both of urban landscapes colored by world events, and natural systems ordered by one's identity.